Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, 2012/13

Kathryn Coleman

31 October 2013

HOSB: 04/13 Acknowledgements

This bulletin has been prepared by Kathryn Coleman in the Home Office Statistics Unit in Home Office Science, from data supplied by police forces and Border Force.

The author is grateful for the support and assistance of colleagues in the Home Office Statistics Unit, and would like to thank statistical staff in the police forces of England and Wales and Border Force’s Performance Team for providing data relating to seizures.

Further information

Copies of other Home Office publications are available from the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about/statistics.

The dates of forthcoming publications are pre-announced and can be found via the UK National Statistics Publication Hub: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html.

For further information about the statistics in this publication, please email policestats@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or write to: Home Office Statistics, 5th Floor, Peel Building, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF.

Home Office Responsible Statistician David Blunt, Chief Statistician and Head of Profession for Statistics Contact via crimestats@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk.

This statistical bulletin is a National Statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in the Home Office Statistics Unit in accordance with the Home Office’s Statement of Compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics, which covers Home Office policy on revisions and other matters. The governance arrangements in the Home Office for statistics were strengthened on 1 April 2008 to place the statistical teams under the direct line management of a Chief Statistician, who reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters.

## Contents

| Section | Page | |----------------------------------------------|------| | Contents | 3 | | Summary | 5 | | 1 Introduction | 7 | | 2 Number of seizures | 8 | | 3 Quantity of drugs seized | 11 | | 4 Seizures by authority | 13 | | 5 Data quality and interpreting the figures | 16 | | 6 Revisions analysis | 16 | | 7 Other data sources | 17 | Summary

This statistical release presents figures for drug seizures made in 2012/13 in England and Wales by police (including the British Transport Police) and Border Force. The data relate to all drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), which divides drugs into three categories – classes A, B and C – according to their harmfulness, with class A drugs considered to be the most harmful.

Two police forces reported having difficulty in providing seizure figures to the Home Office for 2012/13. Hampshire Constabulary was unable to provide any data; Surrey Police could provide data for only the first half of the financial year. Unless otherwise specified, all data for 2011/12 and 2012/13 in this release exclude these 2 police forces.

- Excluding the 2 police forces for which full data were not available, there were 193,980 drug seizures in England and Wales in 2012/13, an 8% decrease from 2011/12.
- Class A seizures decreased by 3% between 2011/12 and 2012/13, to 31,430. Class B seizures fell by 9% to 160,292, while class C seizures fell by 12% to 5,859.
- Cocaine was again the most commonly seized class A drug, though there was a 5% decrease in the number of seizures between 2011/12 and 2012/13, to 16,075. The second highest seized class A drug was heroin with 8,266 seizures, a 7% decrease from 2011/12.
- The majority of class B seizures were for cannabis. The 151,843 seizures in 2012/13 compared to 169,192 during the previous year, a 10% decrease. There were decreases in each of the 3 forms of cannabis reported on, with the number of herbal, plant and resin seizures down by 7%, 10% and 42% respectively.
- The most commonly seized class C drug in 2012/13 was benzodiazepine with 2,027 seizures, which was 23% lower than the previous year’s 2,624 seizures.
- Seizures of ‘other class C’ drugs decreased by 17%, from 1,965 in 2011/12 to 1,640 in 2012/13.
- There were 3.0 tonnes of cocaine seized in England and Wales in 2012/13, compared with 3.5 tonnes in 2011/12 (down 12%).
- Seizures of heroin amounted to 0.8 tonne in England and Wales in 2012/13, down 59% on the 1.8 tonnes seized in 2011/12 which had been largely due to the increase in seizures weighing 100 kg or more by Border Force.
- There was a 43% decrease in the combined amount of cannabis resin and herbal cannabis seized between 2011/12 (41.7 tonnes) and 2012/13 (23.6 tonnes). In addition, there was a 19% decrease in the amount of cannabis plants seized over the same period (from 623,486 to 507,401 plants).
- Approximately 1.5 million doses of anabolic steroids (up 42%), 1.4 tonnes of amphetamines (up 30%) and 244 kg of ketamine (up 204%) were seized. 1 Introduction

This publication presents figures for drug seizures made in 2012/13 in England and Wales by the police (including the British Transport Police) and Border Force. Although Border Force will have made seizures outside England and Wales (e.g. Scotland, Northern Ireland), such seizures are excluded from figures presented in this publication.

The presented figures are correct at time of publication and may include revisions submitted by police forces for the years covered by, and received since the publication of, ‘Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, 2011/12’. Two police forces reported having difficulty in providing seizure figures to the Home Office for 2012/13. Hampshire Constabulary was unable to provide any data; Surrey Police could provide data for only the first half of the financial year.

Unless otherwise specified, headline figures for 2011/12 and 2012/13, and percentage comparisons between these years, in this statistical release exclude data from Hampshire and Surrey.

Data on the number of seizures and quantity of drugs seized can be found in the accompanying Excel and ODS workbooks. Police force level tables show available data from Hampshire (for 2011/12) and Surrey (2011/12 and first half of 2012/13), but their figures are excluded from region, country and overall totals.

Substances covered by this release

The statistics relate to all drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (MDA), which divides drugs into three categories – classes A, B and C – according to their harmfulness, with class A drugs considered to be the most harmful. However, it is not feasible to publish seizure statistics in detail for every drug covered by the MDA. While all drugs are included in the totals, only those shown below are covered in detail within this bulletin.¹

Drugs and their classifications under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

| Class A | Class B | Class C | |---------------|------------------|--------------------------| | Cocaine | Amphetamines⁹ | Anabolic steroids | | Crack | Barbiturates⁹ | Benzodiazepines | | Ecstasy | Cannabis⁹ | GHB | | Heroin | | Ketamine | | | | Temazepam |

¹ Where a seizure is made of a drug that is not listed in the above, it is aggregated into an ‘other’ class category. Further information on drugs covered under the MDA is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/controlled-drugs-list. 2 Number of seizures

The numbers of seizures made are affected by police activity and changes in recording practices. Therefore, the number of drug seizures each year should not be taken as a measure of drug prevalence in England and Wales. This is addressed in the Drug Misuse publications, based on results from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (formerly the British Crime Survey).²

- The number of drug seizures more than doubled between 2004 and 2008/09, to a peak of 241,473 seizures, before falling in each of the next 2 years.

- Two police forces reported having difficulty in providing seizure figures to the Home Office for 2012/13. Hampshire Constabulary was unable to provide any data; Surrey Police could provide data for only the first half of the financial year. More information is included in the chapter on data quality and interpreting the figures.

- Using all available data for England and Wales from police forces and Border Force shows an 11% decrease in the number of seizures in 2012/13 compared to 2011/12. However, this is not a valid comparison owing to the lack of data from Hampshire and Surrey in 2012/13. The total number for England and Wales excluding seizures by these two forces was 193,980 in 2012/13 compared to 211,165 in 2011/12, a decrease of 8%.

Figure 2.1 Number of seizures for all class A substances and all drug types, 2003 to 2012/13

- Two figures for 2011/12 are presented. The unbroken line includes Hampshire and Surrey so that comparisons can be made with earlier years. The dashed line excludes these 2 forces so that a comparison can be made with 2012/13.

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

Class A drugs

Substances considered to be the most harmful are categorised as class A under the MDA. Between 2004 and 2011/12, approximately one-fifth of seizures involved at least 1 class A drug. Data for all forces in England and Wales show that seizures involving class A drugs rose for 3 consecutive years from 2004 (from 30,903 to 48,054 in 2007/08), before decreasing in each of the next 4 years (to

² See the latest edition of ‘Drug Misuse: Findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales’, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/drug-misuse-declared. 33,641 in 2011/12). Excluding data from Hampshire and Surrey, the number of class A seizures fell by 3% between 2011/12 and 2012/13, to 31,430.

- Cocaine was again the most commonly seized class A drug in 2012/13 (16,075 seizures), down 5% on 2011/12. Cocaine seizures rose sharply between 2003 and 2008/09 and, despite the decline in recent years and notwithstanding the lack of data from 2 forces in 2012/13, the number of seizures this year was more than double the 7,251 made in 2003.

- Seizures of heroin fell by 7% between 2011/12 and 2012/13, to 8,266.

- Crack seizures decreased by 8%, to 4,477 in 2012/13.

- Ecstasy seizures rose by 2% in 2012/13, to 3,020.

- There were also 813 seizures of methadone (down 4%), 63 seizures of LSD (down 26%) and 124 seizures of morphine (up 14%).

**Figure 2.2 Number of seizures for the main class A drug types, 2003 to 2012/13**

- Two figures for 2011/12 are presented. The unbroken line includes Hampshire and Surrey so that comparisons can be made with earlier years. The dashed line excludes these 2 forces so that a comparison can be made with 2012/13.

Source: Home Office, [Summary Table 1](#).

**Class B drugs**

There were 160,292 seizures of class B drugs in 2012/13, a 9% decrease from 2011/12.

- As in previous years, the majority of class B seizures were for cannabis. At 151,843, there were 10% fewer cannabis seizures in 2012/13 than the previous year. This included decreases in each of the 3 types of cannabis recorded, with the number of herbal, plant and resin seizures down by 7%, 10% and 42% respectively.

- The second highest number of seizures for a class B drug was for amphetamines with 5,748 in 2012/13, down from 6,594 in 2011/12.

- In addition, the number of ‘other class B’ drugs in 2012/13 (4,758 seizures) was 54% higher than in 2011/12 (3,098 seizures) and almost 13 times more than the 377 seized in 2009/10. For police seizures this increase is largely due to mephedrone and other cathinone derivatives becoming controlled drugs in April 2010. Seizures of drugs in England and Wales 2012/13

Figure 2.3 Number of cannabis seizures, 2003 to 2012/13

- Two figures for 2011/12 are presented. The unbroken line includes Hampshire and Surrey so that comparisons can be made with earlier years. The dashed line excludes these 2 forces so that a comparison can be made with 2012/13.

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 1.

Class C drugs

In 2012/13 there were 5,859 seizures involving class C drugs, a 12% decrease on 2011/12.

- As in previous years, the most commonly seized class C drugs in 2012/13 were benzodiazepines, though the 2,027 seizures were 23% fewer than the previous year. The 139 seizures of temazepam in 2012/13 compared to 223 seizures in 2011/12 (down 38%). It should be noted that these figures relate only to police seizures, since Border Force seizures of benzodiazepines and temazepam cannot be separately identified from their recording system; for Border Force, both substances are instead included within the ‘other class C’ total.

- The 1,401 ketamine seizures in 2012/13 represented a 2% decrease on the 1,430 made in 2011/12.

- Seizures of anabolic steroids increased by 20%, from 694 in 2011/12 to 836 in 2012/13.

- The number of ‘other class C’ drugs fell by 17%, from 1,965 in 2011/12 to 1,640 in 2012/13.

Unknown substances

Recorded seizures of ‘unknown’ substances have increased year on year, from 42 seizures in 2004 to 4,946 in 2012/13. This is most likely to be due to police forces not updating statistical returns on the receipt of forensic test results, while changes to police forces’ forensic analysis arrangements after the closure of the Forensic Science Service may also have had an impact. 3 Quantity of drugs seized

Quantities data fluctuate from year to year and do not necessarily move in line with the number of seizures made. Whilst most drug seizures consist of relatively small quantities, annual totals of drugs seized can be greatly influenced by a small number of large seizures. As with the number of drug seizures, any large quantity of seizures should not be taken as an indication of drug prevalence or availability.

The quantities of drugs seized are summarised in terms of tonnes (for larger quantities), kilograms, doses or plants (for cannabis plants only). Most drugs can plausibly be seized in a preparation form other than kilograms or doses. Therefore, in order to present all seized quantities within a given drug type in terms of one comparable unit (either kilograms or doses), conversion factors are applied to estimate the overall quantity of drugs seized. As the basis for conversion factors has changed, seizure quantities for the years up to and including 2004 are not directly comparable with those for later years. Additionally, in order to make valid comparisons of amounts seized between 2011/12 and 2012/13, figures for these 2 years in Summary Table 2 exclude seizures made by Hampshire Constabulary and Surrey Police. See the User Guide for more information.

Class A drugs

- In 2012/13, there were 3.0 tonnes of cocaine seized, down 12% on 2011/12 (3.5 tonnes). Sixty-three per cent of the 16,075 cocaine seizures in 2012/13 were of quantities of less than 1 gram, with a further 34% between 1 and 500 grams.

- Police and Border Force seized 0.8 tonne of heroin in 2012/13, down 59% on the previous year (1.8 tonnes). Sixty-five per cent of the 8,266 seizures of heroin in 2012/13 were under 1 gram and a further 33% were between 1 and 500 grams.

- Crack seizures in 2012/13 totalled 41 kg, compared with 34 kg in 2011/12. Just 0.2% of the 4,477 seizures made in 2012/13 consisted of amounts over 500 grams.

- Also in 2012/13, approximately 434,000 doses of ecstasy (down 34% on 2011/12) and 101,500 doses of methadone (up 23% on 2011/12) were seized. In addition, approximately 23,000 doses of LSD were seized in 2012/13 compared with 4,000 doses the year before.

- The majority of unweighed class A drug seizures in 2012/13 were for ecstasy with 3,020 seizures; 91% of these seizures were between 1 and 50 doses. There was also a high proportion of seizures consisting of between 1 and 50 doses for LSD (89%), while the proportion of morphine and methadone seizures consisting of between 1 and 50 doses stood at 79% and 69% respectively. Seizures of drugs in England and Wales 2012/13

Figure 3.1 Quantity of weighed class A drug types seized, 2003 to 2012/13

- Two figures for 2011/12 are presented. The unbroken line includes Hampshire and Surrey so that comparisons can be made with earlier years. The dashed line excludes these 2 forces so that a comparison can be made with 2012/13.

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 2.

Class B drugs

- A combined total of 23.6 tonnes of herbal cannabis and cannabis resin was seized in 2012/13, compared to 41.7 tonnes in 2011/12 (down 43%). There was a 19% decrease in the number of cannabis plants seized in 2012/13 (507,401) compared to the previous year (623,486).

- Of the 133,203 seizures of herbal cannabis, just over a quarter weighed under 1 gram (35,595 seizures, or 27%), while almost three-quarters weighed between 1 and 500 grams (96,314 seizures, or 72%). Eleven seizures weighed 100 kg or over. On average, each herbal cannabis seizure weighed 92 grams.

- There were 8,161 seizures of cannabis resin, 8,019 (98%) of which weighed less than 500 grams.

- Eighty-nine per cent of cannabis plant seizures involved 50 or fewer plants.

- There was a 30% increase in the quantity of amphetamines seized in 2012/13 compared to the year before (1.4 tonnes compared to 1.1 tonnes in 2011/12); 97% of amphetamine seizures weighed between 0 and 500 grams.

Class C drugs

- The quantity of anabolic steroids seized increased by 42%, from 1.0 million doses in 2011/12 to 1.5 million doses in 2012/13.

- There was also an increase in the quantity of benzodiazepine seized (from 401,910 doses in 2011/12 to 501,031 doses in 2012/13, up 25%).

- There was a three-fold increase in the quantity of ketamine seized, from 80 kg in 2011/12 to 244 kg in 2012/13. 4 Seizures by authority

Seizures from joint operations involving Border Force and the police are recorded against the lead agency that takes possession of the seized drugs.

Number of seizures

- In 2012/13, 188,285 or 97% of seizures were made by police forces with the remaining 5,695 or 3% made by Border Force. The number of seizures made by the police fell by 9% compared to 2011/12, while those made by Border Force rose by 59%.

- For police forces, seizures of class A, class B and class C substances fell by 6%, 10% and 19% respectively.

- For Border Force, seizures of class A, class B and class C substances rose by 85%, 56% and 30% respectively.

Figure 4.1 Proportion of drug seizure numbers by drug type and authority, 2012/13

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 4.

- Police forces accounted for 94% of all seizures of class A drugs and 98% of all seizures of class B drugs. There was a lesser proportion for class C drugs, with police forces responsible for 81% of seizures.

- Within the class A drugs seized, the police were responsible for almost all seizures of crack (100%), heroin (98%), cocaine (95%), morphine (95%), ecstasy (94%) and LSD (92%). Seizures of ‘other class A’ substances by Border Force increased by 345% and was mainly due to big increases in the number of times methamphetamine (up approximately 400%) and psilocin (up approximately 1,000%) were seized compared to 2011/12.3

- For class B drugs, approximately 98% of both cannabis and amphetamine seizures were conducted by the police. All except one of the cannabis plant seizures were made by the police.

- Of drugs in class C, all seizures of GHB in 2012/13 were conducted by the police. Border Force was responsible for 34% of anabolic steroid seizures and 13% of ketamine seizures.

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3 Data as provided to Home Office Statistics by the Border Force’s Performance Team, 27 September 2013. It is not possible to calculate the proportion of methadone, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and temazepam seizures made by the police and Border Force for 2012/13 since the latter is unable to separately identify these drugs on its recording system.

**Number of seizures by region**

Proportions of the number of drug seizures for Border Force and police force regions varied little from 2011/12 to 2012/13. At 26%, the largest proportion of drug seizures in 2012/13 took place in London, the most heavily populated region in England and Wales. Outside of London, and despite the lack of data from Hampshire Constabulary and Surrey Police, the largest proportion of seizures for regional police forces took place in the South East (10%); at 4%, the North East had the smallest proportion. Border Force and British Transport Police accounted for 3% and 2% of seizures in England and Wales. Their data cannot be broken down by region.

The proportion of seizures made by Border Force has fluctuated only slightly since 2003, between 2% and 4%. Of the police force regions, and notwithstanding the fluctuations seen in intervening years, the proportion of seizures in the North West in 2012/13 was 6 percentage points lower than in 2003, while London saw an 8 percentage point increase over the same period.

**Quantity of seizures**

Although Border Force accounted for only 3% of seizures in 2012/13, the proportion they seized in terms of quantity was much higher. This is due to the fact that the agency is often involved in high profile operations where large quantities of drugs are seized, for example at airports or ferry ports.

**Figure 4.2 Proportion of drug seizure quantities by drug type and authority, 2012/13**

- In 2012/13, Border Force seized 80% of cocaine by quantity (85% in 2011/12), 59% of heroin (88% in 2011/12), 69% of ecstasy (77% in 2011/12) and 86% of LSD (13% in 2011/12), while police seized 83% of crack (88% in 2011/12).

- Police seized 616 kg of cocaine in 2012/13, which was 18% higher than the amount seized in 2011/12 (522 kg). In contrast, Border Force seized 18% less cocaine in 2012/13 (2,415 kg) than in 2011/12 (2,933 kg). That Border Force’s quantity figures are affected by high profile operations is demonstrated by a single cocaine seizure weighing approximately 1,200 kg in June 2011 aboard a pleasure cruiser at the port of Southampton, which was included within its 2011/12 quantity figures. The 305 kg of heroin seized by police in 2012/13 was 37% higher than the amount seized in 2011/12 (223 kg), while Border Force seized 73% less heroin in 2012/13 (445 kg) than in 2011/12 (1,623 kg). The higher amount of heroin seized by Border Force in 2011/12 was largely due to 4 seizures weighing 100 kg or more.

One seizure weighing 1 kg was responsible for the increase in LSD seized by Border Force in 2012/13 (approximately 20,000 doses) compared to the year before (500 doses).

Border Force seized 59% of amphetamines in 2012/13 compared to 51% in the year before.

Almost 100% of cannabis plant seizures were made by police forces in 2012/13 (507,396 plants); the one seizure made by Border Force consisted of 5 plants. Border Force accounted for 15.7 tonnes (66%) of the herbal and resin cannabis seized compared to the police’s 8.1 tonnes (34%).

Within class C drugs, Border Force seized 95% of anabolic steroids (89% in 2011/12) and 91% of ketamine (85% in 2011/12). One kilogram of GHB was seized in 2012/13, all by the police.

As with the number of drugs seized in 2011/12, the quantity of methadone, barbiturates, benzodiazepines and temazepam seized by Border Force could not be separately identified from its recording system.

Figure 4.3 Percentage distribution of police and Border Force main class A and B seizures, 2012/13

Source: Home Office, Summary Table 3.

Approximately the same proportion of police and Border Force seizures of the main class A and class B drugs (60% and 64% respectively) fell within the 1 to 500 g or 51 to 100 doses/plants groupings.

A further 39% of police seizures weighed less than 1 g or consisted of between 1 to 50 doses or plants, while only 4% of seizures made by Border Force fell within these groupings.

In contrast, 23% of Border Force seizures weighed more than 1 kg, compared to less than 1% of police seizures. 5 Data quality and interpreting the figures

Seizures from joint operations involving Border Force and the police are recorded against the lead agency that takes possession of the seized drugs.

Two police forces reported having difficulty in providing seizure figures to the Home Office for 2012/13. Due to time constraints and operational demands, Hampshire Constabulary was unable to provide any data but is making efforts to resume recording seizures for 2013/14. Organisational changes within Surrey Police during 2012/13 affected the force’s ability to provide robust drug seizures figures and, as a result, figures for 2012/13 included in this release relate only to the first half of the financial year. The force is, however, confident that it will be able to resume providing robust figures for 2013/14.

Where a seizure is made of a drug not separately listed in this bulletin, it is aggregated into an ‘other’ class category. Further information on drugs covered under the MDA, including a link to the full list of drugs covered, is available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/38/schedule/2. Details about the counting rules used for calculating numbers of seizures in this bulletin are included in the User Guide.

Amount groupings (e.g. under 1 gram, 1–50 doses) presented in the breakdowns shown in Summary Tables 3a and 3c of this publication include data on all seizures made by police forces. For the Border Force’s data in Summary Tables 3b and 3c, quantities requiring conversion are not included in the breakdowns, although they are included in the total estimated quantity (kg or doses).

6 Revisions analysis

Revised data for 2011/12 are being presented in this statistical release, with the total number of seizures for England and Wales being revised upwards by 1%. Since the publication of ‘Seizures of drugs in England and Wales, 2011/12’, and after identifying an issue with the queries used to extract data from their reporting system, Nottinghamshire Police resubmitted their data for 2011/12. This resulted in the force’s originally published figure for seizure numbers being revised upwards by approximately 109% (from 2,232 to 4,657), and an increase in the amount of drugs they seized. It is likely that this also affected the force’s number of seizures data for 2009/10 and 2010/11. A summary of the affected 2011/12 headline figures are shown in the table below.

| 2011/12 | Published on 15 November 2012 | Published on 31 October 2013 | Percentage change (%) | |---------|-----------------------------|-----------------------------|-----------------------| | Number of seizures | | | | | Nottinghamshire Police | 2,232 | 4,657 | 108.65 | | England and Wales total (including Hants & Surrey) | 216,296 | 218,721 | 1.12 | 7 Other data sources

Seizures by police in Scotland and Northern Ireland

As well as providing a comparison to seizures in England and Wales, looking at drug seizure figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland allows for a more complete UK-wide picture. Data relating to seizures of drugs by police in Scotland are collected and published by the Scottish Government, and follow the same counting rules as those presented for England and Wales. In 2011/12, police in Scotland made 27,319 seizures of controlled drugs. Of these, 6,232 involved a class A drug, 18,164 involved a class B drug and 4,256 involved a class C drug. Data for 2012/13 are not currently available. The Police Service for Northern Ireland collects and publishes data on drug seizures by police in Northern Ireland, and they are also on the same basis as those for England and Wales. Police recorded a total of 4,474 drug seizure incidents in Northern Ireland during 2012/13, the latest year for which data are available; class A, B and C totals are not presented.

Border Force seizures

Seizures made by Border Force officials outside England and Wales (e.g. Scotland, Northern Ireland) are excluded from figures presented in this statistical release. A quarterly breakdown of Border Force seizures in the UK covering the period April 2011 and December 2012 is available online as part of their regular key performance indicators.

Misuse of drugs

The extent and trends in illicit drug use among adults aged 16 to 59, measured annually by the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), is published separately by the Home Office. According to the 2012/13 CSEW, around 1 in 12 (8.2%) adults had taken an illicit drug (excluding mephedrone) in the last year, a fall compared with 2011/12 (8.9%).

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4 Latest drug seizure statistics for Scotland were published on 23 April 2013, and are available online at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/TrendSeiz. 5 Latest drug seizure statistics for Northern Ireland were published on 9 May 2013, and are available online at: http://www.psni.police.uk/directory/updates/updates_statistics/updates_drug_statistics.htm. 6 Border Force publishes data on its key performance indicators at http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/our-performance/. 7 See the latest edition of ‘Drug Misuse: Findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales’, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/drug-misuse-declared.